The SemanticHIFI project aims at:
- exploring an as wide as possible range of possibilities of content-based manipulation of recorded music by implementing state-of-the-art research in the fields of music information retrieval, digital audio signal processing and man-machine interfaces,
- then at integrating a selection of the developed features, into consistent, fully operational application prototypes: the Hi-fi System, targeted to end-user consumers, the Authoring application, intended to more advanced, up to professional users and the peer-to-peer sharing middleware, managing all metadata exchanges between the applications.
The project R&D activities are divided into a number of work packages, related to each as indicated in the figure below, with the following objectives:
Indexing: automatic extraction of various musical descriptors from audio signals;
Browsing: database structures, algorithms and user interfaces for browsing within large title collections;
Rendering: interfaces and algorithms for navigating within pieces according to their internal musical structures : polyphony and spatial rendering, temporal structure;
Performing: real-time interaction with recorded materials and simplified instruments for non-musicians;
Authoring: a PC Application for personal editing and preparation of DJ performances from pre-recorded materials;
Sharing: a peer-to-peer middleware managing all metadata exchanges between the connected devices while taking care of IPR management;
Hi-fi System: the full-featured Hi-fi hardware system.
All research results developed as part of the project are presented in the various work packages sections, most of them being integrated into the target applications.
